Wood Carving Patterns – Impressive Designs to Carve on the Wood

Wood carving patterns are designs or patterns which are carved in blocks of wood. This art of carving patterns out of wood, dates back many centuries and is done with the help of carving tools.

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Wood Carving Patterns - Created using Various Tools

For making wood carving patterns, you have to first choose a design of your choice and then trace it on the wood. You can design your own pattern or use craft books an the internet as a source of reference. You can use a pattern like that of a feather or a wheat pattern so as to give your wood block a stylish and elegant look. If you are an amateur, then do stick to simple or stylized wood patterns. The tools used in the creation of wood carving patterns ranges from items like a simple jack knife to more sophisticated and complicated tools. Two types of woods namely hardwood and softwood are used for carving purposes. Owing to its strength, you will require to use sophisticated carving tools while working with hardwoods like oak and maple. At the same time, patterns can be carved on softwoods like maple and pine using simple carving devices. Using a bench knife, carve the outline of your traced design and then rough out the design's back ground using a gouge. Taper the back ground further into the wood so as to highlight your carving pattern. Finally, smoothen the edges of the pattern by using a skew and then sand down the pattern so as to give it a polished look.

Soapstone Carving - Carving on Metamrphic Rock

A soapstone is a soft metamorphic rock which is widely made use for carving purposes. While doing soapstone carving, choose a simple design as carving of intricate designs may lead to the crumbling of the soapstone. After dusting the soapstone, sketch the required pattern onto the stone using a pencil. Cut the unneeded sections of the saw using a hacksaw blade and shape the sculpture with files of different sizes. Rub sandpaper over the sculpture and bake it in a preheated oven for 15 minutes.Since soapstone contains hazardous materials like silica and asbestos, one should wear protective goggles and a respirator as a method of protection doing soapstone carving.

Relief Carving - Three Dimensional Carving

Relief carving is an art form of creating a three dimensional sculpture from a block of wood. This is done by removing layers of wood from the wood block using various tools. For carving purposes, you can use the wood of tress like butternut and aspen. After sketching the design on the wood block using a pencil, carve out the outline of the design by using a large hand chisel. After re sketching the lines, use a fine chisel and gouge to remove the remaining layers of wood. Polish the sculpture using a sandpaper and then apply the desired varnish.